Jack Kapac, Culture/Communy/Race: Che Gay Men and the Polics of Inty, Anthropologi, Vol. 40, No. 2 (1998), pp. 169-181
Contents:
ABOUT XY, US’S #1 GAY MENS PRT MAG
Beijg-based GS began as a listgs and liftyle magaze geared toward the gay muny before evolvg to a rpected outlet for mentary and longform journalism, dited to rerdg landmark events for the Che LGBT muny. Twelve years later, amid a tighteng media environment, is the longt-nng queer prt publitn the untry, and believed by many to be the last one standg. * gay chinese magazine *
Beijg-based GS began as a listgs and liftyle magaze geared toward the gay muny before evolvg to a rpected outlet for mentary and longform journalism, dited to rerdg landmark events for the Che LGBT muny. Many LGBT rearchers Cha believe that, today, GS — short for GaySpot (乐点 lè diǎn) — is not only the longt-survivg queer prt magaze the untry, but also the last remag, even as Cha creasgly clamps down on the visibily of an timated 70 ln queer people. GS, wh s three staff and team of eelancers, is a nonprof started 2007 as a source of event rmatn for the gay muny.
Those were the days before gay datg apps like Grdr and s Che equivalent, Blued — and even before mastream social media platforms like WeChat, which has bee dispensable to gathergs.
Sex, nightlife, celebri, film, relatnship advice, photos of buff guys: the were the needs at the time of Che gays seekg the material life, Su says, and ditive of the lax media environment that preced Cha’s current regime. 0” had a penchant for documentg legal s: Cha’s first discrimatn su brought by a transgenr person 2016 as well as a separate su the same year volvg erced stutnalizatn; the first gay nversn therapy su 2017; discrimatn trials won by a gay school teacher and an HIV-posive person 2018; and high-profile suicis dotted throughout. Nowadays, the team only prts about two issu a year and posts a handful of articl a week on s public WeChat acunt (ID: gayspot) to a small but loyal fanbase, each fetchg page views only the low thoands.
Edison Fan is livg his bt life as an openly gay mol and fluencer Cha – how do the sgle father, bt known for his sexy unrwear shots, do ? * gay chinese magazine *
In parison, Lifehack, another acunt that do gay male nsumer-oriented workout tutorials, sual news, and product reviews, replete wh photos of shirtls guys, celebri, and mem, draws tens of thoands of clicks per article. Jt the last year or so, Che social media pani scbbed gay, then lbian discsns om s platforms.
Ma Baoli ed to n his gay liftyle blog secret, but today has morphed to an app wh 63 ln LGBTQ members worldwi. * gay chinese magazine *
And November, a proment thor of homoerotic fictn was sentenced to a staggerg 10 years jail for sellg her book, a se that shocked Cha’s fictn muny. “Che gays are such letdowns, ” he said.
Why Edison Fan – Che fluencer, gay mol and LGBT advote – is so much more than jt a pretty face. Edison Fan, who tablished OMG Sportswear and U-Touch Unrwear, is livg as an openly gay mol and fluencer Cha – how do the sgle father, bt known for his sexy unrwear shots, do ?
What you may not know is that he's also one of Cha's most well-known openly gay fluencers, wh more than 1 ln followers on the Che social media platform, Weibo, along wh over half a ln followers on Instagram.
OUT f and articulat the ntributn of gay men and women to the culture through a provotive blend of fashn, pop culture, and journalism, spirg rears to nsir the ever-evolvg meang of gay. * gay chinese magazine *
But wh succs and visibily has also ocsnally e cricism om fans who wish he'd e his platform as one of the few out gay entertaers Cha to be more of an activist for the LGBT muny and speak out on their behalf. Dpe homosexualy beg crimalized 1997 and classified as a mental disorr 2001, social and stutnalized discrimatn agast LGBT dividuals Cha is still rampant.
At the same time, Cha is also a untry that's churng out progrsive tools like BluedBaby (an app that nnects gay Che parents wh surrogat Ameri) and has a vol LGBT muny mandg equal, addg further plexy, Cha is currently the midst of rtcturg s entertament dtry (crackg down on both the famo y-yang ntracts that lead to Fan Bgbg's arrt as well as more heavily censorg hip-hop lyricism, for example). So a untry where gay dividuals still suffer stigma and entertaers are startg to be more firmly sctized by the ernment, 's unrstandable why public figur like Fan may choose to have a more ntral web prence as well as why some crics might see him as beg plic.
Blued, one of the biggt gay datg apps the world, has succeed bee plays by the ever-shiftg l for L.G.B.T.Q. Cha — brgg together a mory muny whout activism. * gay chinese magazine *
What do mean for a gay man to functn — and even thrive — a culture that still discrimat agast his muny? We lled Fan via WeChat to discs his thoughts on fatherhood, his unlikely rise to stardom, LGBT life Cha, his thoughts on beg a gay fluencer, LGBT activism and more.